Paradise Driver

Saturday, April 26, 2008

WORLDS BIGGEST...

JIGSAW PUZZLE

Talk about dedication. At the fall of the Communist government of East Germany, in 1989, thousands of documents were saved from total destruction by the Stasi (East German secret police). People stormed the various Stasi offices and seized those items which hadn't been burnt. 15,500 bags worth of shredded or torn sheets of paper. For the last 19 years, a small cadre of between 9-45 persons have painstakingly pieced these files back together. About 400 bags worth. Now the German government has purchased and set up a computerized system to scan each scrap and automatically recreate the damaged documents. The programming is on going and intuitive as the electronic brain learns all the "tricks of the trade" from its human counterparts. The recreation of these vital records has already uncovered some spies that worked for the Stasi in the west.

Also, in Berlin, the famed 'Berlin Wall" has all but disappeared. But the city of Berlin now offers virtual tours of the infamous landmark. They provide handheld multimedia devices, for a nominal fee, to guide scholars, students and curious history buffs to all the significant and historical locations. Not a bad idea, considering that this year's college freshmen were born after the wall was razed.

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If everything goes according to Hoyle, the very first Genetic Civil Rights Law should be enacted this year.
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act bans US employers from using genetic information in hiring, firing, promotion and compensation decisions, and from collecting genetic information from employees.

Also, in genetics, two different studies have shown that the human population almost went extinct 70,000 years ago. It dropped to just 2,000 individuals, scattered in small tribes across Africa, during a catastrophic drought period. Think about that. 70 millennium to grow from 2K to 6.6 billion. We are all descended from people who were the toughest sob's on the face of the Earth.

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Some Finnish researchers are about 3 years away from launching a space craft that will derive its thrust from the solar wind. And, at a cost of only $8,000,000, this prototype is very inexpensive. Theoretically, this type of spacedrive could reach heretofore unbelievable speeds as it slides through the cosmos. While the prototype will be relatively small, only 5 miles across, a full-sized version could traverse the distance from Earth to Mars in just a few weeks. Journeys to the outer planets and beyond would become feasible for manned craft. Maybe hunting asteroids of ice and retreiving them to provide fuel for more conventionally powered craft, from the Asteroid Belt, the Ort Cloud and the Kuiper Belt. It would also allow the exploration of space beyond our Sun's area by using the interstellar winds.

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For 76 minutes yesterday a gas station in Philadelphia sold gas for 76¢ a gallon. That city's basketball team, the 76ers, are in the NBA playoffs for the first time in 3 years. Obviously it was a promotional stunt but a well done one.

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Every 5 years, or so, the Congress pieces together a new "Farm Bill". Included in it are new tariffs on imported foodstuffs, and "pork-barrel" give-aways to the wealthy. One of the "pork-barrel" items this time around is a tax depreciation incentive for breeders of racehorses. Hey folks, horseracing isn't a sport for needy people. Thats why its called "The Sport of Kings". And Kings don't need tax breaks.

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Earlier this year I mentioned that Popular Photography Magazine was having a photo contest. Entitled "Magical Maui! How Bad Do You Want It", it drew some interesting entries. The winner has been selected. The photo (left) is the winner.

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The active volcano, Kilauea, is having some gas problems. This forced the closure of Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park and has placed parts of the State, Including Mau'i, under a VOG alert. The winds shifted from their normal "Trades" to "Kona". Its not really a problem, unless you have OCD about breathing.

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As always. Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you find it entertaining and/or informative.

Have a utterly fantastic weekend. Catch ya later.

Mahalo

Aloha

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Friday, April 25, 2008

HUNGRY?

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

99 BALLOONS

A LOVE STORY

For more about Elliot, click here.

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

THE SILENT SERVICE

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

ITS ARBOR DAY...

HAVE YOU HUGGED A TREE YET?

Don't get me wrong. Trees are good. They scrub the CO₂ from our atmosphere and provide us with beauty, oxygen, shade, wood, paper, pulp, ground cover, nesting for birds, hidey holes for squirrels and a place for young lovers to carve their hearted initials in. Hell, I even heard a rumor that they actually grow in Brooklyn. I admire the concept of sticking as many into the ground as possible every year. Just not me. I make things die. Some folks are graced with "green thumbs", I am cursed with "black" ones. Even artificial plants whither under my care. Just an ironic fate of life.

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Talking about bad luck, did you see the story out of the Indianapolis area? Some idiot crook breaks into a guys home. The homeowner encounters the intruder and beats the living shit out of him. Finally pinning the "Lex Loser" to the floor. Where the owner held him at knifepoint until the cops arrived. So what you say? Well the homeowner was legally blind. After "Bobby Burglar" was carted off, to the detention ward at the hospital, the owners wife was cleaning the blood off her hero and he stated, "I think its all his." Think of what is going to happen to the cowardly crook when the other inmates discover that he had his ass handed to him by a blind man. ROTFLMAO!

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Police: Carjacker stops to ask TV news crew for directions

Video at 11

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Montgomery County (MD) jail inmates might be asking friends to give them phonebooks when they are incarcerated in the future. One of a series of budget cutting proposals deals with the amount of toilet paper prisoners use/need on a weekly basis. Why haven't they thought of using corncobs? Its their misfortune that Montgomery Wards and Sears & Roebucks don't issue catalogs anymore.

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Recent images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter seem to indicate that Mars has gone through many ice ages in its history. Obviously this is causing scientists to reevaluate their presumptions about the planet.

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The Mars rover "Opportunity" is suffering from old age. Like many of us back on Terra, it is having problems with its shoulder. "Opportunity" and its twin "Sojourn" have been faithfully working away for over 4 years now, on a misssion that was only scheduled to last 90 days.

Here are some JPL folks discussing the end of the Rover program.

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The heir apparent of the Republican Party, John McCain, is trying to distance himself from our "Commander-in-Grief". He made a visit to the Ninth Ward in New Orleans to say he "would have done things differently."

A White House spokesperson immediately responded that Dubya has already admitted his faults after Hurricane Katrina. The spokesperson also blamed the local and State governments for their failures.

I am sure that "Fearless Leader" never has grasped the concept of "The buck stops here." Accepting responsibility has not been one of his ingratiating traits.

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Rupert Murdock's feeding frenzy of American media outlets may have just come to a screeching halt. A Senate committee has voted to set aside some special rules enacted last December by the FCC. These rules favored Murdocks efforts to dominate information control in major cities. Could you imagine having just Fox News on every TV, radio and newspaper in the country? Murdock, and the neocons, can.

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According to a report released by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, nobody has the slightest idea how many trained Iraqi military and police there are in Iraq.

Just exactly what have we been doing there for the last 5 years? Please, somebody tell me.

I have a recurring dream that someday in the future, Bush and Cheney will be led up the same gallows steps as Saddam, with the same executioners, and put out of our misery.

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Did you hear? Wendy got ate by Arby.

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Please alert Stallone and Bullock. Snipes gets out of prison in 3 years.

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Money can't buy you love or happiness, but it may protect you from having a stroke. That's the takeaway from a new study in the journal Stroke.

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Denise Richards is currently on Mau'i, filming a segment of some new "reality" show she'll be having on the E! network this fall.

yawn

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Thats it for the moment. I want to thank each of you for stopping by. I really appreciate it.

Mahalo

Aloha

THE PICTURE GALLERY

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive

"Let's all be careful out there!"

Thursday, April 24, 2008

POTPOURRI

GORGE FOR A BOY
DIET FOR A GIRL

According to a just released study, the determination of whether a new embryo is conceived as male or female might also be influenced by the mother's diet. The basic ground rule of which marathon sprinting sperm still is the major factor but mama has a say also. And I always thought it was who was "on top" at the time.

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The global "family tree" of life is being rewritten.

Science has now shown that T-Rex's closest living relatives in our world are birds. Kinda suspected that. The idea that dinosaurs were cold-blooded reptiles didn't make sense. The way dinosaurs have been presented, at least when I was in school, has always been as a grayish/brown colored elephant skinned creature. Want to bet that they were brightly colored in some sort of feather? I wonder if they would taste like chicken or turkey? Think of the size of the drumstick! Of course, to cook one, you'd need an oven the size of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. I wonder how many tons of butter you'd need?

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"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

A very interesting insight to the upper level eschelon workings of our military and our current administration's concept on the war in Iraq.

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I am definitely in the wrong line of work

You take over the reins of a company. You only hold that position for 4 months. During your tenure, the company's value falls by nearly 12%. During the one complete fiscal quarter you were in charge the company loses $70 million. Your contract is terminated. And what do you get? Just $11,296,759 for the 122 days you were there.

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US Life Expectancy Falls for Large Segment of Population

From 1960 to 2000, life expectancy in the United States rose by seven years for men and six years for women. However, beginning in the 1980s, large geographic disparities began to appear. The growth in life expectancy has stagnated in some areas and actually declined in others.

I am sure that the fact that the 80's were when HRM Reagan's "trickle down" economic policy went into effect and certain basic needs that all other industrialized nations of the world provide to their citizens disappeared from our lifes in America is not a factor.

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